Some of you may be familiar with the BBC2 program
grumpy old women (and it's brother in law grumpy old men).
Can you be a grumpy old woman at 37. I fear that I may be setting a new record. I had dinner last night for the birthday of a very dear friend. It was a small gathering, and excluding myself I really don't like 50% of those around the table. Seriously. One of them was the partner of the birthday girl. She can do better. Much better. The other was an ex-work colleague. When I changed jobs recently one of the most comforting aspects of this was the reduced amount of time I'd have to spend in this individuals company.
Leaving the city I realised the rear light from my bike was missing. Had some 'young person' removed it as a lark? Very funny Sonny Jim, now I need to ride home in the dark. To sooth my soul I stopped off at another great mate's on the way home. Princess made me a cup of tea and we sat down in front of The Bill with her 7 month old and we discussed the
GOW syndrome. She too is a
GOW it appears. As a result of this we discussed how many people we have in our lives whose company we really enjoy (excluding family). I had 6, with another 5 not resident in Adelaide. 6 doesn't really give you great social options, especially when two have children under 2 years. It's also not heartening that I have almost as many people I care about not living where I do. I couldn't even move to be near them because the all live in different cities (Berlin, London, Newcastle
NSW, Newcastle Tyne-upon-Wear and Perth).
Yes there are others, people who I work with now, and I worked with previously who I genuinely like, but with whom I have a professional relationship. I've been burnt by making friends at work (reference last night's dinner) and am rather reluctant to do it again.
oooooo.... I just thought of someone who I left off the list (sorry Opera Boy), that makes it 7. Almost in double figures.....
anyway, there are also acquaintances and friends of friends, but no one I'd ring to come round for fish and chips on a Thursday night.
And so I sit at home with my cats and my cook books, quite frankly rather happy with this scenario.
But as one of these good friends came round today (with her 18 month old, my it's been a child filled weekend). The wee one only ate half his tin of pureed apples, and so I thought this would be a good time to start my new challenge. You may remember that both
JC and I realised we weren't daring bakers and so decided to do something of our own. This month it's apple and blueberry muffins, adapted from the
Joy of Joy the Baker. Joy always sounds happy, maybe it's her name. Can you be a
GOW if your name is Joy?
These muffins are really easy to make, full of fruit and whole grains and therefor are delicious and semi-healthy.
Apple and Blueberry Muffins1 1/4 cups wholemeal flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1
tspn baking powder
1/2
tspn baking soda
1/4
tspn salt
1/2
tspn cinnamon (I couldn't find my cinnamon so I use some cinnamon sugar I bought once for doughnuts)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used the left over baby food. I also cooked off a slightly less than fresh apple, diced, in some butter to give the muffins bigger pieces of fruit)
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2
tspn vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup blueberries (I used the whole punnet).
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius and line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers
In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil and egg. Bring the two together and sir until just moist. Add the blueberries and the end and fold through.
Bake 16-18 minutes.
These are delicious. Hopefully the anti-oxidants will help with my
GOW syndrome.
